17. The Question

It was almost the end of term and the influx of pranks only added to the atmosphere. It was a miracle the twins hadn't been caught – for everyone knew the culprits after spending five years with them – but Angelina assured me that with their knowledge of the castle that surpassed every senior member (besides Dumbledore) and their cunning, it would be a long time until they got caught unless they purposely allowed themselves to be – fat chance of that happening in a million years.

Angelina had come to the kitchen one night, inviting me to the common room. She informed me that Fred and George were out causing havoc most likely, and that Katie forced Lee to go to the hospital wing to get his flu cured. With the absence of the Troublesome Trio, she suggested we have some girl time. I found myself rather excited to be with just the girls for a while; surrounding myself with Weasley and Jordan testosterone and house elves all the time was taking its toll and I desperately craved female company.

And with no Fred meant that I could relax and not worry about my queer desperation to be asked to the ball by him. I still couldn't fathom why I had the urge to go with him; all night my mind was restless as if Fred was physically in my head, keeping me up with the disturbance of his behaviour.

We were settled by the window in the bustling common room, busier and more cramped than I had ever seen it with students loafing about and rushing on homework. Alicia was waiting for us, scribbling away on a long piece of parchment excitedly before greeting us and packing it away neatly.

"Dinner was divine yet again, Ella!" Alicia gushed. "I think I've gained twice my body weight these past few months alone." Once the group had found out I helped in making the meals they never failed to complement each and every dish. It was amusing, the forced affection one would give just to show inclusion of an anomaly.

"If they didn't cancel Quidditch that wouldn't be such a problem, Leesh," Angelina grumbled. It was apparent that the lack of Quidditch was affecting her far too much – no one else complained as much, although the twins did manage to moan about it and not being old enough to enter the Triwizard tournament.

"Doesn't stop you though, does it?"

"We need to keep in shape and practice for next year! No way will I have everyone slacking and dropping our game. We will win," Angelina said defensively.

I chuckled at them.

"What was that you were working on Alicia?" I asked, breaking the one-sided heated conversation between the girls.

"Oh, just some extra arithmancy work I thought I'd start on."

At the mention of the subject Angelina groaned and leaned back against the window, tipping her head back until it knocked on the glass. "Please, no more school talk. My brain hurts from seeing Snape's face today."

"Was he being extra arse-y today?" I asked.

"He's always extra arse-y, with a great, big- ugh, no that sounds gross," Alicia scrunched up her nose.

"Jealous of Snape's arse, Leesh?" Angelina laughed.

The blonde's face paled and she shook her head stiffly over and over.

"She's jealous of your arse, Ange, she just won't admit it," I grinned. Angelina stood up and sashayed in front of us, wiggling her bum every few steps to our laughter. A cat call whistled across the room and we all laughed as Angelina wiggled her two fingers in the air in a general direction.

"I'm not even going to attempt to deny that! Angelina has the most enviable derriere in the entire school," Alicia giggled, her words completely serious.

"Gotta thank my African heritage for that," Angelina said, sitting back down after a final waggle.

"Where are you from, Ella? You look…I don't know…exotically British, I guess." Alicia asked, inspecting my features.

"I'm actually a quarter Indian but it's hardly noticeable," I answered. My skin wasn't as pale as Alicia's or Katie's, I had often been described as having a light olive skin tone (whatever that was) and my only feature that was evidently Asian was my hair and eyebrows; my hair was thick and a rich brown which looked almost a deep red in the sun and my bold, bushy eyebrows were arched almost perfectly.

"Wow," Angelina said in awe. "No wonder your hair's so gorgeous."

"It's really not," I giggled nervously. The only thing I truly appreciated about my hair was the colour. It was too thick to look after and always got in my face, even when it was tied back, which made me glad I didn't have curly hair – that would have been a nightmare.

"I would kill for your hair," Alicia said, staring disdainfully at the shiny locks her fingers were twirling.

Angelina rolled her eyes. "Alicia is that girl who's incredibly smart but stupid when it comes to herself-"

"Hey!"

"-she doesn't know how bloody hot she is and never notices boys looking at her. She doesn't realise how truly blessed she is but she doesn't hate herself either. I've said it time and time again: if I were a boy I would so shag her."

Alicia blushed furiously and she covered her face with trembling hands. "Ange, if you weren't you I'd so hex you right now."

"And what if I was Georgie?" Angelina asked teasingly, sending me a wink before Alicia looked up.

"Then…then I'd…ugh! I hate you," Alicia grumbled, slouching in her seat.

"How long have you liked him?" I asked through the small smile I could manage.

"I never said I liked him!"

"Alicia, please. Shut up and answer the question. We're not idiots," Angelina said, watching the blonde closely. The portrait door swung open and the twins scrambled in, muttering to each other. Without a second glance they sat with a group of younger students by the fireplace, with one boy with shaggy bright red hair just like theirs and another with messy ebony hair.

"That sentence was the biggest juxtaposition I've ever heard." Angelina sent Alicia a deathly glare. The blonde turned her green eyes to the devious duo and a smile grew on her lips. "A year maybe? I don't really know, it just started creeping up on me and one day during breakfast, I just knew," she spoke softly.

"After all his flirting I'm just surprised it's only taken you two now to get a move on," Angelina said.

Alicia blushed and twiddled with her fingers. "Actually, he told me he'd been planning it since the announcement of the ball. Said he didn't want to waste any chances and risk me going with someone else if he blew it."

Angelina's eyes were wide with shock. "Seriously? He said all that? George Weasley?! Who knew he could be such a romantic." Honestly, even I was shocked. I knew George had strong feelings for the girl but even I didn't think that with his mischievous personality he could manage to plot and wait for the perfect moment to act out a grand gesture of romance.

"Now all we have to see is if Fred's the same." My eyes flitted over to the twins to see Fred declaring something to the red headed boy. His brother, surely – they looked far too alike not to be.

"Hey," I called the girls, keeping my gaze fixed on the boys, "Is that Harry Potter?"

"You don't know?" Angelina asked, then clasped her eyes shut and apologised for her stupidity. "Yes, that's him, and Ron, Fred and George's younger brother."

Seeing him this close I could make out his features a lot better than when I had witnessed him in the First Task. I could see his piercing green eyes through his round glasses and his shaggy black hair unkempt, as if he had just rolled out of bed. Despite the rumours and tales running about him for years, he didn't stand out at all. I wasn't sure what I was been expecting; perhaps a shift in the air from his presence, an aura attracting me to him, a gut feeling pulling my eyes in his direction as if knowing there was a rare being in the room who was a living miracle. But there was nothing.

"Who d'you reckon he'll go with?" Angelina asked almost conspiringly, moving in closer to us.

"Oi! Angelina!"

We all looked over to see the twins and the younger boys staring at us.

"What?" she called back, huffing at being interrupted.

"Want to come to the Ball with me?" Fred yelled, a smirk playing on the corner of his lip, baring a tiny portion of his straight white teeth and an eyebrow uplifted, as if daring her to reject him.

Angelina gave Fred an appraising sort of look.

"All right, then," she said, and she turned away from him, with a bit of a grin on her face.

Fred's eyes met mine for all of two seconds, his face smug, and then he looked away to his brother.

"Well, now we know Fred isn't the romantic sort," Alicia giggled. "Angelina! What about Francis?"

"That git? I did what you said and went to ask him, but he saw me coming and cuddled up to some Slytherin and I heard him ask her."

"No!" Alicia gasped.

Angelina smirked. "Doesn't matter. I know for certain that Fred will have something planned for him; he ruined one of his pranks the other day and Fred is dying to get one back at him."

"Oh, Ella you have to come!" Alicia's voice pulled me out of my haze and I blinked at her.

"What?"

"The Ball. Term ends this week, we can all go Hogsmeade and get dress robes."

The end of term was this week. Meaning I would be on my way to Ottery this weekend. I suddenly felt overwhelmed. By the large castle, the Gryffindors, catching up on five years of school work, George, Fred…it had all been creeping up on me and only now was I feeling the crumbling of my resolve from the pressure. I needed to be home.

But maybe home is nothing but two arms holding you tight when your world is falling apart.

It puzzled me, why I was so affected by Fred asking Angelina. We were becoming friends- no, acquaintances. I refused to call us friends just yet. The simple noun was often easily used and abused. The actual definition of friend: a person that you know well and like. I didn't know Fred well at all, aside from the stories I'd heard from George and the interactions between us. But he was never consistent; what was I to make of that? Did I like him? In the moments he was kind, yes, of course. He had the ability to be really wonderful.

Alicia's insistence on me coming to the Ball was also baffling. All of them had dates and I would be the, what- seventh wheeler? What was it called when all six friends were going with each other? Do you only count one of each pair, which I would then be the fourth wheeler? It would be awkward for me. And I wouldn't want to be sitting alone while everyone else was dancing together, my lonesome begging for unwanted attention. What was the point?

As I was leaving not long after, Fred and George pulled me over to them, causing me to fall on one of their laps. I jumped up immediately and was formally introduced to Harry Potter and Ron, both whom were eyeing me up strangely. It would have been a pleasant meeting had I not rushed off seconds after, claiming I had a meeting with Hagrid over some work I was having trouble with. I didn't want to lie but the continuous chatter over the bloody ball was driving me nuts. But it wasn't just them, everyone I walked past were in similar conversations and I was close to yanking my hair out and screaming.

The hallways were quieter the closer to the Entrance Hall I got, and eventually the students petered out until I was alone on my way to the kitchen. I distracted myself from my thoughts that filled the sudden void of silence with Hagrid. He had been feeling rather agitated since his interview with Rita Skeeter but diverted his attention to his wonderful and weird creatures. And those horrible rock cakes his hut was now over flowing with. During one of his unfocused ramblings he had informed me that he was helping out with all of the tasks from the Triwizard tournament, and that magical creatures were to be present in every one. I had asked him whether they started off with the easiest and were going to get harder – "What could possibly be more dangerous than dragons!" – But he reassured me that that was not the case. And then offered me a rock cake to which I hesitantly denied.

I often helped him tend to the Blast Ended-Skrewts that the students were feeding and looking after. The first few times I got too lax with them my arm almost got singed, but with a few tips and pointers from Hagrid it became simple. He had even complemented me with his booming voice and engulfed me in one of his giant bear hugs that left me raring to have my feet on the ground again, comparing to an ex-student of his who now had a career with dragons. How amazing to work with such beautiful deadly creatures! The more I thought about it the more I imagined myself in the future: wearing wonderful leather boots and clothes tattered and ripped from the strength of the beasts, stroking and feeding and taming the animals. It was a beautiful dream.

Turning the corner to the hallway where the portrait of the fruit bowl was I collided into a large body.

"What a lovely surprise to see you here."

Sweet golden eyes, almost like honey.

"Darren! Hi," I said, my voice turning high and squeaky from the interruption.

"Hello, Ella," he smiled. "What are you doing here? Long way down from Gryffindor."

"Oh, umm…just popping into the kitchen for a bit. Got a bit peckish," I let out a nervous giggle. Did he even know about the kitchen? Dumbledore really must stop being so lenient. "What about you? This isn't the way to the Slytherin common room if my memory serves me right."

"I'm waiting for someone from Hufflepuff, actually," he replied.

My eyes widened slightly. "Wow. That's…different."

Darren chuckled. "A Slytherin friends with a Hufflepuff? I know."

"It's a good different," I nodded.

"How did you find out about the kitchen?" he asked.

"The twins," I answered automatically. It just seemed plausible that any illicit activity could be linked back to the twins.

"Ah," he nodded in understanding. "Should've known the Weasley boys would have discovered this."

I didn't bother asking how he came to know about it.

"You get along with the twins?"

"Never really spoke to them before, but I have had the pleasure of being the butt of their pranks once or twice," he answered.

"Those idiots. I would offer to stop them but…"

"It's fine, I understand how those boys don't listen to anyone, least of all their mum. Poor woman," he muttered solemnly, and made a face, as if recalling a particularly sour incident.

"Care to join me in the kitchen while you wait?" I offered. Surely his company would keep me occupied, and it would be nice to make a new friend on my own. So far all the Gryffindors I'd befriended was down to George, not that I was ungrateful.

"Sure," he agreed and tickled the pear, holding the door open for me.

"You hungry?" I asked, manoeuvring around the house elves and starting on a sandwich.

"No thanks," he called out, seating himself by the fire. "I've started on a diet."

I almost dropped my peanut butter coated knife. "What? Why?"

"Have you seen the size of me?" he chuckled, his hand flying over his abdomen in a sweeping gesture.

I sat down with my sandwich, leaving the ingredients out for the elves to store away. "You're not that big, Darren. I don't see why you need to lose weight."

"Says skinny girl."

"Oi! I'm not that skinny."

"Alright, whatever you say pretty girl." I rolled my eyes at the use of the endearment and took a large bite to hide the smile inching across my face.

"I need to get a date for the ball," he admitted.

The topic of conversation would have made me run to the sanctuary of my dorm – hell, I would have been willing to jump off the astronomy tower were it not for the embarrassed flush creeping onto his cheeks. God, I couldn't wait for this bloody ball to be over with.

"Have you asked someone?"

Darren shook his head, his eyes staring deep into the flickering fire. "I tried. One girl. Didn't react exactly how I wanted," he sneered. "Anyway, I've been on this diet since summer and I'm determined to keep at it."

"Well then," I put my plate on the floor, rubbed my hands free of crumbs and leaned forward, forcing him to meet my eyes. "That girl was a super bitch to turn you down."

He grinned and sat back. "Words sweet and musical to my ears."

"A cow like that doesn't deserve to go with you. You're an amazing guy," I said.

He sat still for a few moments, his face concentrated in thought. "Would you go with me?"

My eyes enlarged, mimicking the physiognomy of a fearful house elf and my mouth hung open. "Wha- what?"

Darren fidgeted with his hands, the only sign of his discomfort. "Would you like to come with me to the Ball?"

There was a war raging in my head, but rather than a mind-blowing world war, it was more of a Cold War, where all the conflict is secret and hidden in the shadows. It's not like I didn't want to go with him, I just never let it cross my mind. I hadn't even considered him, the only boys on my mind being Fred and George. And they were off limits now. Darren was the complete opposite of what Slytherins were portrayed to be; what most of them were. He was kind to me even though he thought I was a Gryffindor, his house nemesis. In his eyes, we were to never engage with each other, other than to torment. And with my experience with Slytherins, he was a blissful anomaly in the attributes of his house peers – like me. What was there not to like about him?

"Have you already agreed to go with someone else?" he questioned suddenly.

I could have kissed him for even thinking I had already been asked.

"No, I haven't. But I'd love to go with you."

It was his turn to go wide eyed and slack jawed on me. "You what?"

"I said, I'd love to go with you, Darren," I repeated, grinning at him.

"Ok," he breathed in astonishment and relief, "great! That's…great!"

I laughed. "Good."

We sat in awkward silence for a while, and just as I opened my mouth Darren jumped out of his seat.

"Damn! I forgot Hufflepuff! Sorry, Ella, I have to go, I'll see you around!"

I laughed as he ran out the kitchen, almost tripping over his robe as he went.

The next morning I was dragged to the Great Hall again for breakfast, but this time both the twins had the morning free, and after filling our stomachs on eggs and toast and biscuits, we took a stroll around the Black Lake.

My hands were stuffed into the pockets of my large coat, my scarf covering half of my face and a woollen hat devouring my head, leaving only my eyes visible.

"How can you breathe with all that?" Fred asked, eyeing up my attire.

My response was muffled through my scarf and Fred scrunched his face at me even more. He had been gracious to me all morning, despite the odd biting comment in regards to the topic of conversation – something I was sure would take him a while to stop – so I was determined to be so as well; no awkwardness. George chuckled, throwing an arm around my shoulders. "Didn't ya know Fred? Our Ella here doesn't need to breathe; she's not a human!"

I shrugged his arm off and cursed him.

"What was that smelly Ellie?!" George yelled into my ear, making me cringe away from him and closer to Fred. "I couldn't hear you Mistress Alien!"

Fred seized my arm and pulled me behind him. "Stay back, Princess! I shall save you from this ugly, horribly disfigured, mangled beast!" Fred brandished his wand and threw a jinx which his brother deflected, throwing his own back.

"Oi! We're twins, you git!" George dodged another jinx and duelled his twin in the snow, their noses as red as their hair from the frosty chill and their laughter filling the air with Weasley warmth.

"I'm the good looking one though, darling George."

"I think the white snow is blinding your eyes brother."

"No, no, I can assure you that it's your face hurting my eyes."

"Better than seeing your ugly mug every morning and night."

"You give me nightmares."

"Lee has to push you over to stop you from snoring!"

"Lee has to cover your body because you strip in your sleep!"

"Well, Lee-"

"Boys!" The two stopped duelling but left their wands poised towards each other. "Enough. You're both butt ugly."

They looked at each other, dropped their wands, and silently resumed their positions on either side of me.

"Ella-"

"-do you really find our hotness so unappealing?"

"Why, we are-"

"-wounded, love! This blasphemy-"

"-must be sanctioned."

"Blasphemy?" I laughed, having moved my scarf lower down to free my mouth. "I hardly believe-"

"ATTACK!" Fred shouted next to my ear, eliciting a shriek from me. In an instant the boys had their arms around me and we flopped to the floor. One twin pulled my hat off and rubbed their knuckles against my head while the other unzipped my coat and tickled my ribs. I was roaring in laughter and pain as my body writhed under them but otherwise I couldn't move; Fred was straddling my legs and George was leaning over me.

"AH! Yo…you…STOP! Y…you g-g…GITS!" I shrieked though laughter and tears.

"Apologise!" George yelled.

I shook my head, too weak to formulate words. Fred removed his fingers first but kept them hovering over my ribs, and he called for George, making him stop his assault as well. They grinned down at me as my laughter died down and my erratic heartbeat returned to normal with the occasional hard thump.

"Now are you ready to apologise?" Fred asked, a smirk playing on his lips.

I found myself grinning back at him. I leaned in close – as close as I could with his weight still heavy on my abdomen – and whispered, "I will when you get your face transfigured, ugly."

His blue eyes narrowed. "As you wish," he responded, and with a war cry he began again.

The attack lasted longer than before, and I grudgingly apologised through my aching ribs and numb head. We stood up again, Fred zipping back my coat and George slamming my snow filled hat on my head.

"Cheers, guys," I muttered, glaring at them as they chortled.

"Yer welcome, love!" George grinned.

Each twin hooked an arm through mine and we resumed walking, the boys in a deeply confusing conversation with open sentences and missing words.

"Ella, we're having an end of term party in Gryffindor this weekend, so make sure you're free," George said.

"Yeah, last thing we need is for you to be double booked with the Gryffindor party and the house elf party," Fred winked.

"Actually, I won't be able to make it. Sorry."

"Please don't tell us you've already agreed to the house elves," George whined.

"If you have, we'll have words with Dobby, don't you worry."

I chuckled. "No, it's not that. I'm actually going away for a bit."

The boys stopped walking. "What? Where?" they asked simultaneously.

I grinned up at them "Home. I'm going Ottery."

"Seriously?" George asked, beaming himself.

"Why?" Fred frowned.

"I really miss Zoe and Nate, so Dumbledore thought it'd be nice to visit them before Christmas."

"But what will you say? You've been gone all this time, they're going to be curious."

"Don't worry, Dumbledore and I worked something out. I'll be fine, I know what I have to say." I explained. "I just hope they've come back home for the holidays," I thought to myself, remembering they had gone to university in different cities.

"You'll be back for the ball though, won't you?" Fred asked, slowly beginning our walk again, this time back to the castle.

"Alicia's bugging me to make sure you do come," George said.

"Yes, I'll be back by then." I had thought about the right time to tell the boys about my date, and as it was the current talking point… "I wouldn't want to disappoint my date by not attending."

They stopped again, the sudden halt pulling me back. "What date?" they asked.

"I met a boy the other day- Darren. He asked me…and I said yes," I clarified.

"Wait-"

"Darren?"

"The Slytherin?"

"Yes…why?" I frowned at their scowls.

"Why are you going with him?"

"How did you even meet him?"

"You're not bloody going with him."

"Now, hang on! I met him when you guys left me on the way to the Great Hall, my first time there with everyone. And I'm going with him because he's the only one who's asked me and he's a really nice bloke."

Fred scoffed. "Yeah, real nice bloke. He's a Slytherin!"

"So what? Have you ever spoken to him?"

"Why would I want to consort with his lot?"

"Oh, is the brave little Gryffindor afraid of another house?" I mocked.

"Piss off! It's not just any house. He's a Slytherin!"

"Stop being so judgmental. So was my father!" I yelled.

"And look how he turned out! Look at you now!"

We were all breathing heavily, our breaths foggy in the air between us. My numb lips were trembling and my fists were shaking, and I was sure that it wasn't the wind that was making my vision blur.

"Ella, I'll go with you," George said stiffly.

"No. You've been mad for Alicia for ages now, it's not fair for you to take me as a last resort," I snapped.

He groaned. "Ella, I'm sorry! I'm sorry I didn't think of you-"

"Well that's bleeding obvious, isn't it?"

"Ella-"

"No!" I shouted, and then sagged. "Just, no more. I'm going in now, and I'm going to the ball with Darren. I don't want to see either of you," I sent them both a pointed glare, "until you apologise."

I turned on my feet and without glancing back once, trekked alone to the castle with only the falling snow to accompany me.